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X-Men Vol 1 130
** ** ** ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * * Antagonists: * ** ** ** ** Unnamed Hellfire troops ** *** Rodi *** Unnamed members Other Characters: * * * Unnamed New Yorkers Races and Species: * * * Locations: * ** *** **** ***** disco ***** Upper East Side ****** ******* and ******** ** *** **** facility *** **** Items: * * armor * * Vehicles: * Professor X's Rolls-Royce | Notes = * Although unnamed, the nightclub from this issue can most likely be considered a topical reference subject to the Marvel's sliding timeline. The denizens of the club all sport looks (such as safety pins used as nose studs) that invoke the New Wave genre popular in 1979/1980 time period when this issue was published. * There is no actual Delano Street in Manhattan, but there is a Delano High School in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan's lower East Side neighborhood. In the era when this issue was published, it was a considerably blighted area but did contain a number of "underground" punk / New Wave clubs, much like the one depicted here. (Given the dramatic urban renewal of Manhattan from the 1990s onward, this issue's depiction of lower Manhattan in general may as well be considered a topical reference on the sliding timeline as well.) * This issue contains the first full appearance of Sebastian Shaw (although he would not demonstrate his own mutant powers for several more issues.) * This issue features (as the tagline states) the "dramatic debut" of the Dazzler. Claremont and Byrne did not create the character (see Trivia section below) and had not originally intended to include her in this story. However, Marvel's top brass had plans to create a big splash for the Dazzler character's introduction and asked Claremont and Byrne to work a guest starring role for her into the story because by this time, X-Men was the companies' top-selling comic book and assured the character would get the widest exposure. * The Hellfire Club soldier attacks Nightcrawler with a sonic weapon identical to the one Cyclops used to waylay him during a training exercise in X-Men Vol 1 125, which is in keeping with the plot point that the Danger Room had been bugged and the Hellfire Club kept notes about what went on in there. Similarly, as Cylcops notes, the soldiers use ruby quartz material against Cyclops and attack Phoenix via a method that requires knowledge of her brainwave patters -- specific information that would not likely be available to people outside the X-Men's circle. | Trivia = * Common misconceptions have resulted from the obfuscation of Dazzler's creation, namely that many readers believe the X-Men creative team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne created her. Although they wrote and penciled this, her first appearance, the Dazzler character was created by Tom DeFalco (who came up with the idea of her light-based powers), John Romita, Jr. (who provided the initial sketches of her) and Roger Stern (who conceived of the character's name). * Dazzler was created as a part of an abortive attempt at cross-marketing. Bo Derek was originally slated to star in a movie about a disco singer who was also a superheroine and there was a plan to release a series of records purportedly sung by Derek's character. Marvel was asked to create the character and publish a comic book starring her in order to lay the groundwork for the other projects. However, Derek pulled out of the project so plans for the movie were cancelled and therefore the records could not be released as well (especially given that a severe backlash against the disco genre had taken hold, making it unlikely for the records to be a success). But before any of these developments took place, Marvel had already published this issue. Since they had already debuted the character, Marvel went ahead with the comic book series despite the cross-promotional projects being shelved. * The Hellfire Club storyline contains several allusisons to pop culture ephemera throughout. While there is a real-life Hellfire Club, the depiction of the villainous group here seems to be inspired by the 60s-era British spy series "The Avengers", specifically the episode of the series entitled "A Touch of Brimstone". In that episode, red-headed secret agent Emma Peel goes undercover in another criminal Hellfire Club posing as "the Black Queen of Sin" and sporting a risque outfit that is VERY similar to the outfit that Wyngarde imposes on Jean Grey. That episode also contained a guest star actor named Peter Wyngarde who was the physical basis for Jason Wyngarde (as well as sharing his name). * Additionally, other real-life actors would serve as the visual basis for the Hellfire Club members: Sebastian Shaw is modelled on actor Robert Shaw; Donald Pierce is based off of Donald Sutherland, while Harry Leland is derived from Orson Welles. * Also, the name "Sebastian Shaw" is possibly lifted from a character of the same name from the cult soap opera "Dark Shadows". That series repeatedly featured characters traveling in time and encountering historical personaes who look identical to characters from the "modern day" period, which is more than a little reminiscent of Jean's supposed "timeslips". | Recommended = * This is part of the first Hellfire Club storyline, and leads directly into the Dark Phoenix Saga. The plot covers the issues through . | Links = * The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators - accessed on 06/17/2009 * - See for further referencing * - See for further referencing * https://www.cbr.com/foggy-ruins-of-time-the-real-origins-of-the-hellfire-club/ }}